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Short Term Car Lease

Everything you need to know about getting a short term car lease

If you’ve been looking to get behind the wheel of a brand-new car, but don’t want to have to tie yourself into a long-term financial commitment by purchasing it outright or locking yourself into a long-term lease agreement, a short term car lease is right up your alley.

Unfortunately, a lot of dealers out there aren’t wild about the idea of offering short term car lease opportunities, which can make it rather difficult to walk off of the lot with a lease under 24 months.

Difficult, but not impossible.

When you are armed with the insider information below, you’re going to be able to improve your chances of landing a short term lease dramatically – getting your hands on the keys to the brand-new car you’ve been looking for with zero headache or hassle.

Ready to jump right in?

What exactly is a short term car lease?

A short term car lease is anything under 24 months. Usually, ends up being somewhere between 12 to 18 months or so. The traditional car lease that most dealerships are looking to lock you into starts at right around 24 to 36 months. (Though 39 months and higher are also pretty common.) But may be too long for the kind of agreement that you’re after.

You may be looking for a vehicle that you’ll drive while you attend school. One that you’ll drive while job hunting for a picture-perfect career in another area. Or just having something that you’ll be able to drive around before you deploy as part of your military service.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

There are all kinds of different reasons that you might be interested in a short term car lease. Aside from the ones listed above. As long as you can provide a legit rationale for why you’re after this truncated lease agreement most dealers will be willing to work with.

How difficult is it to land a short term car lease?

You’re going to have a bit of an uphill battle when it comes to landing a short term car lease, that’s for sure – but it isn’t going to be an impossibility.

There are two real different directions you can go when you want to get behind the wheel of a brand-new vehicle without a long-term lease agreement, and they are:

Negotiating for a shorter term lease directly with a local dealership or

Signing up for a long term rental/lease agreement from a car rental service

Different dealerships will be inclined to offer different agreements and different terms for a shorter lease period. Some of them may refuse to offer you a lease term any less than 24 months just out of principle.

However, you’ll never know what kinds of offers you can take advantage of until you ask. You may be surprised at the opportunities that present themselves when you described your side of the story.

Long-term rental/lease agreements from rental car companies can also be a smart move to make. The only thing that you’ll want to be on the lookout for is whether or not you’re getting a beneficial rate right off the bat.

National car rental companies will almost always be more expensive than smaller local companies. So try to shop around to secure the very best prices before you pull the trigger on any deal.

At the end of the day, it should be a lot easier to get a short term car lease than most expect. Obviously, there are going to be a couple of obstacles that you’ll need to navigate successfully. There are some who with different opportunities out there that you shouldn’t be discouraged. If you run into a couple of no’s before you get a yes!